The Third Option

Reviews / Votes

He offers a framework for evaluating the ethics of covert action, which he applies to exemplary cases from the last 75 years. Readers might apply this framework differently in some cases, but it is a good model. Johnson's book will have lasting utility for evaluating the US's ongoing use of covert action. * T. C. Ellington, Wesleyan College, CHOICE * ...the book offers a characteristically thoughtful contribution to the growing literature. * Rory Cormac, University of Nottingham, UK, International Affairs * A wonderfully rich book by the dean of American students of intelligence. Johnson combines inside experience from various positions in the Congress with a lifetime of scholarship on intelligence. He pays particular attention to the role of Congress and the ethical dimension of covert action. The book provides invaluable background as covert action enters yet another phase in the cyber world. * Greg Treverton, former Chair, National Intelligence Council * No informed scholar has written about American intelligence from more angles and with more informed knowledge than Johnson. His new analysis of covert action maintains his record for thoroughness, insight, and fairness on all aspects of intelligence, and provides fascinating reading in the bargain. * Richard K. Betts, Professor of War and Peace Studies, Columbia University * In this richly detailed book, Johnson provides a framework for evaluating covert action in ethical terms. It is a landmark study-essential reading for all those studying or working in the fields of intelligence and foreign policy. * Mark Phythian, Professor of Politics, University of Leicester * There is no better chronicler of the American intelligence community than Johnson. In his latest book, a tour de force study of covert action, he once again dazzles readers with the breadth and depth of his knowledge of national security affairs. In this important and illuminating look at propaganda, paramilitary operations, and lethal measures, he shows how the nation's leaders have all too often been seduced by the power of covert action and paid the price, damaging what intelligence activity is meant to defend-freedom. * Christopher R. Moran, , Professor of US National Security, University of Warwick * Covert action-propaganda, coups, assassinations-are a comparatively recent 'third option' for US presidents acting in your name. Johnson gives a disquieting but readable history and a persuasive argument for why you should want the option limited or taken off the table. * James H. Johnston, author of Murder, Inc. * A sweeping, judicious, and lively account of covert action. Johnson, the reigning dean of American intelligence scholars, draws on his encyclopedic knowledge of the history of the CIA and forthrightly recounts decades of payoffs, propaganda, poisoning plots, coups, and drone killings. His clear-eyed assessment of what worked and what backfired should be read by every policymaker and spymaster. * Scott Shane, former New York Times national security reporter * Loch Johnson has an astonishing grasp of the history of U.S. covert action since the beginning of the Cold War in the Truman era all the way through the beginnings of the Biden era. Drawing on that knowledge, he judges the Third Option by way of constitutional, ethical, and pragmatic criteria, and does so brilliantly. Any student, journalist, or citizen wishing to understand the pro's and con's of covert action as a tool of foreign policy should read this book. * David M. Barrett, Villanova University * Johnson remains objective and balanced with respect to both the achievements and the failures of U.S. covert action. He points to some of the challenges for effective intelligence oversight and also highlights the dysfunction in government that impacts the use of intelligence and covert action, especially as it concerned the Trump administration. The book strangely ends on a very optimistic note by proposing a fourth option: "...the virtue of leading by example" (275). * Armin Krishnan, East Carolina University, Congress & the Presidency * The Third Option, captures Johnson's vast experience and knowledge of the intricacies of covert action. Combined with his typically eloquent and accessible style of writing, The Third Option gives students, novice scholars and enthusiasts a well-rounded account of US covert action and its place in the broader context of US foreign policy. * Magda Long, King's College London, International Spectator * . . . . the most thorough, thoughtful, provocative, and extensively documented contribution to the literature of covert action as an element of the intelligence profession. * Hayden Peake, CIA, Studies in Intelligence *